Olympics and the US Election Cycle

An occasional mental mussing of mine is tracing back when the previous presidential elections were (easier with a fixed-term system of course). When I tried the same thing with the Olympics, I realised something blatantly obvious - they fall in the same years (with, in the case of the Olympics, some exceptions).

The significance of this, I feel, is twofold. On the one hand for US observers, the Olympics is an opportunity to think about the international stage and the important issues facing US interests across the globe. This year, for example, the strength and growth of China as a campaign issue will only have been heightened by the dazzling opening ceremony and the competition in the medals table. The crisis in Georgia has achieved a greater significance than it otherwise would have, starting as it did at the beginning of the Olympics when Putin and Bush were in the same stadium.

Secondly, for the rest of the world the Olympics is also an excuse to think about the politics of the other nations they are competing against. Although Obama's worldwide appeal, which is as much a reaction against Bush as it is a real enthusiasm for the Illinois Senator, is exceptional, this is likely to be the case every year. No other election garners as much international attention, and taking place at a time when nations are more outward looking than usual anyway due to the Olympics, this can only heighten the attention the US presidential election receives.